Sharing the deep sea

By Kelsey Barnhill, deep-sea ecologist at the University of Edinburgh

The deep sea is the largest and least explored ecosystem on our planet. Pressure increases as you descend through the water column, making the seafloor a difficult place to reach. Despite this challenge, major technological advances over the past century have allowed us to explore all depths of the ocean, uncovering unknown environments such as hydrothermal vents and cold-water coral reefs that host high levels of biodiversity. Some of the technologies we use to reach the deep sea include remotely operated vehicles (ROV), autonomous underwater vehicles (AUV), human occupied vehicles (HOV), towed cameras, and benthic landers. 

An image taken by ROV of a rock covered with sponges and corals in the Azores-Biscay Rise at approximately 2000 meters deep. Image: ROV Luso/EMEPC/iMirabilis2 2021

While the deep sea presents a logistical challenge for scientific access, the scientific community is committed to openly sharing research and exploration. Telepresence-enabled research and exploration vessels allow the public and researchers that cannot go to sea the opportunity to follow and even participate in offshore research. The E/V Nautilus, E/V Okeanos Explorer, and R/V Falkor II are three examples of vessels making deep sea exploration accessible to people beyond the expedition members. These ships broadcast live streams of ROV dives to their websites where anyone in the world with an internet connection can watch deep sea exploration in real time. However, most deep-sea research vessels still struggle to have the bandwidth speeds required to live stream their discoveries. Despite this obstacle, there are other ways for these ships can bridge the gap between land and the deep sea .Through lower-band width methods including blog posts, social media updates, WhatsApp messages, and Zoom calls the wonders of the deep sea are increasingly shared in real-time. 

Image from NOAA Office of Ocean Exploration and Research  

The iAtlantic iMirabilis2 expedition set sail in the summer of 2021 onboard the R/V Sarmiento de Gamboa. Early career researchers from South Africa, Brazil, Cabo Verde, and Ghana were able to virtually join the cruise through a ship-to-shore buddy scheme. This innovative programme allowed around-the-clock access to ship operations via a WhatsApp group chat and included a weekly one hour Zoom call from the ship to the on shore researchers. Following the expedition, a survey revealed that the on shore researchers found  the scheme to be an inclusive and accessible way to learn more about conducting at-sea deep-sea science. 

Kelsey Archer Barnhill participating in a ship-to-shore telepresence interaction in front of ROV Hercules while sailing onboard E/V Nautilus in 2017.

While virtual training opportunities are a great start to making deep-sea science more accessible, there is no substitution for getting on a ship and sending down robots hundreds or thousands of meters deep. Recently there has been a push towards making deep-sea scientific equipment itself more accessible. A large research cruise with a full-size ROV and a trained team of technicians comes at a high cost, limiting deep sea science to be driven by wealthier countries. New technology such as the Azor drift-cam, and Maka Niu, Deep-Sea Drop Camera, and ReelCam camera systems have been tested to bridge this gap, providing relatively low-cost options for exploring the deep sea. As these nascent technologies develop, hopefully so too will worldwide deep-sea ocean exploration capacity.  

The United Nations Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction Treaty (BBNJ) includes capacity building and transfer of marine technology as key elements, recognising their importance to sustainable high seas. In a world rife with inequality, it is inspiring to see a commitment to make the most inaccessible areas of the planet easier to reach.